Beyond apps and algorithms: The enduring relevance of SMS in real-time messaging era

SMS offers reliability.

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In today’s hyperconnected world, businesses and consumers alike are spoilt for choice when it comes to communication channels. WhatsApp, RCS and other over-the-top (OTT) platforms dominate daily interactions, offering rich, multimedia experiences.

Yet, when it comes to time-sensitive, mission-critical communication – whether it’s a bank delivering a one-time password (OTP), a clinic reminding a patient in a remote rural village of their appointment, an insurer warning policyholders of a damaging hailstorm or a retailer announcing a flash sale – SMS continues to reign supreme.

This isn’t about one channel replacing another. It’s about understanding the unique strengths of each platform and recognising where SMS provides a non-negotiable edge for business-critical, time-sensitive customer communications.

SMS remains the most direct and reliable channel for urgent communication. Read rates typically sit between 94%-98%, with the majority of messages read within minutes of receipt. Unlike e-mail, which competes with cluttered inboxes and spam filters, or messaging apps that rely on internet connectivity, SMS delivers instantly to almost any mobile device – smartphone or not.

Richard Simpson, MD of BulkSMS.

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For time-critical updates – such as fraud alerts from banks, healthcare appointment reminders or time-limited retail promotions – speed and visibility aren’t luxuries; they are requirements.

• Banking and financial services: Banks and insurers worldwide rely on SMS for transaction alerts, suspicious activity warnings and one-time passwords (OTPs). The universal accessibility of SMS, coupled with near-perfect uptime, makes it indispensable for financial security.
• Healthcare: In healthcare, missed appointments cost both patients and providers. SMS reminders dramatically reduce no-show rates, while enabling real-time updates on emergencies, test results or system changes – ensuring patients stay informed. Consider the importance of this in South Africa, where patients may travel from far-flung rural areas at significant cost.
• Retail and consumer engagement: When urgency drives action – like limited-time flash sales – SMS remains unmatched in creating instant awareness and response. Retailers use it to cut through the noise, landing promotions directly in consumers’ hands and prompting immediate engagement.

Beyond speed, SMS is also affordable and scalable. At an average cost of R0.21-R0.33 per message, businesses can reach thousands – or millions – of customers without straining budgets.

And while SMS is short-form by design, it doesn’t lack sophistication. Personalisation features allow messages to include names, links or tailored context, increasing engagement without sacrificing speed. This balance of scale and customisation is critical for sectors like logistics (delivery notifications), utilities (outage alerts) or hospitality and healthcare (booking/appointment confirmations).

A further strength lies in SMS’s compliance frameworks and global reach. Providers like BulkSMS ensure businesses adhere to regulations such as TCPA in the US, GDPR in Europe and POPIA in South Africa, while also offering infrastructure that scales across markets.

With a footprint that spans more than 200 000 business clients worldwide, BulkSMS platforms – both web-based and robust APIs that integrate with business systems – continue to prove their resilience and adaptability in a regulatory environment that is becoming increasingly complex and disparate across geographies.

BulkSMS’s platform provides a glimpse of SMS use-cases in practice:

• Shark Spotters (South Africa): SMS triggers instant alerts to beachgoers when sharks are detected, demonstrating how seconds can save lives.
• Graeme Vincent’s Endurance Tracking Software: SMS powers live athlete updates during endurance events, keeping supporters connected in real-time.
• mobiFix: For a mobile device repair company, SMS ensures swift, reliable updates to customers awaiting critical repairs.
• Unigrain: SMS updates protect farmers against the uncertainty of fluctuating commodity prices. Using the web app, SMSes are manually sent to select groups of farmers with stock prices at three times in the day, so that farmers can decide when to price their stock.

These examples show SMS at work in diverse, high-stakes scenarios, reinforcing its role as the gold standard for urgent communications.

WhatsApp for Business, Rich Communication Services (RCS), which is used for Android’s Rich Business Messaging (RBM), and other rich messaging services excel in areas like multimedia engagement, two-way conversations and branding. Businesses should embrace these channels where appropriate. But RBM is not ubiquitous, as RBM isn’t available on all smartphones, yet.

When time is short, stakes are high and reach must be universal, SMS remains the channel businesses cannot afford to overlook.

Time-sensitive communication requires certainty. SMS delivers it through speed, visibility, scale and reliability. Its ubiquity across devices and demographics – unhindered by internet/data connectivity or phone operating systems – ensures that no customer is left out, while its compliance-ready infrastructure provides confidence in even highly regulated industries.

As businesses navigate a fragmented digital communications landscape, one truth holds steady: when the message is critical, SMS remains the channel of choice.